Archive for September, 2003

Dept. of Corrections

It was implied in yesterday’s news that Tiffany sang the Classic 80’s Pop Hit, “The Locomotion.” She did not. That song was sung by Kylie Minogue. We deeply apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

As a matter of fact, it’s such a common misconception that the above-linked Tiffany site debunks it on its news page.

Furthermore, I used to live down the street from Kylie Minogue. But not the famous one. Just a girl named Kylie Minogue. Her mom was a real estate agent.

Loco-Motion

AtariProtos.com has recently been updated with (among other things) a page for the unreleased Atari 2600 game Loco-Motion. Strangely enough, the game was to have been a port of the 1981 Konami arcade machine Loco-Motion.

The gameplay looks somewhat similar to the “Amquack Railroad” train operator mini-game from the Commodore 64 title Donald Duck’s Playground, except for the passenger riots, exploding stations, run-away “crazy trains,” and the complete lack of Donald Duck.

And to think, I almost got away with this news post without making reference to 80s “superstar” and Playboy covergirl (April, 2002), Tiffany.

Apocalypse II

I don’t know what’s up with the sudden surge of unreleased Super Nintendo games being discovered, but I’m not complaining! SNES Central, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite online resources, has posted information on Psygnosis’ ill-fated Apocalypse II.

In fact, you’d do well to check out the site’s Unreleased Games section, which contains the most comprehensive list of unreleased Super Nintendo games I’ve ever seen.

Big thanks to programmer Simon Nicol for sharing this game, and to the fine folks at the Digital Press web forums for tipping us off.

Boicotta Settembre!

I’ve been asked, several times, in various states of politeness, why this site is “dead.”

It’s an excellent question, and one I’m reluctant to answer, as I’ve yet to find a valid explanation that would cover all of my bases. So, I came up with a great excuse.

We’re boycotting September.

That’s right, folks. Here at Lost Levels, we view the ninth month of the year as a time of personal reflection, a time to stop writing about video games and take the time to notice the little things.

It also happens to be the month Fall semester begins, and merely the second month of the little project you’re now viewing.

In short, I was mistaken in believing that I could produce work of adequate quality on a set schedule. I can not. In a perfect world, writing about video games would cover my rent and my ramen noodle and coffee stockpile, but it does not.

So here’s the deal. I’ll publish articles, right here, when they’re done. This is not to say that my future output will not match that of August’s. What this means is that, instead of worrying about balancing three to four articles at a time, I can focus on getting each one done right. Which, to me, is scads more important than reaching some kind of presupposed deadline.

We’ll pick up again this weekend. After that, I foresee no problems in publishing regular updates. Thank you for your continued support and words of encouragement. We’re not going anywhere, and it only gets better from here.

Devil Whiskey uses the same style of gameplay as The Bard’s Tale series and other such classic roleplaying adventure games from the 1980’s, but has more modern graphics and sound.

After playing the demo, I’m eagerly awaiting the finished product. If you’re a dungeon crawler afficionado and haven’t already done so, head on over to the Devil Whiskey website and have a look for yourself. Even casual gamers should check it out, but be mindful of the large download (and the bandwidth it chews up) if you don’t really care to play it.

Happy Labor Day

We here at LostLevels.org have been striving to bring our second issue to you.

So, in honor of the Labor Day holiday, we’re proud to announce…. that we’re running a bit behind schedule. We should have the September 2003 issue ready to go in a day or two, once Frank is done exploring the West Indies and the rest of the staff get our orders of chili cheese fries.

But that doesn’t mean that we have nothing new for your viewing pleasure today. Indeed, we have created a News Archive so that the plethora of ruminations and musings that you find on the News page will be available for perusing long after their glory days in the spotlight (and usually their usefulness, as well) have passed them by.

And this new feature would actually be useful today, too, if there were enough news items to push any of the previous news items off of the page. Which, of course, there aren’t. Yet….

Articles

Block Out for the NES

In which the guys who made Double Dragon and River City Ransom almost published a 3D puzzle game.

Hard Drivin' for the NES

A Q&A with the author of Tengen's surprisingly impressive attempt at putting the 3D racer on the underpowered NES.

Spotlight: Bio Force Ape

The legendary lost game from Seta has finally been found! But is this the end of Lost Levels?!

Spotlight: Star Trek V

It should come as no surprise that the worst Star Trek movie would have made the worst Star Trek game.

Review: Colors

In this exclusive Lost Levels review, we take a thorough, introspective look at Colors, the GTA-alike that would have
saved the Gizmondo. SPECIAL BONUS: Sodomy inside!

Elusions: Thunder Force VI

A brief retrospective of the butt-rockingest series of shooters that ever was, and the Dreamcast sequel that wasn't.

Spotlight: Pescatore

A glitchy puzzle game with multi-colored seafood that bears more than a striking similarity to PuyoPuyo? Not very fresh.

Elusions: Final Fantasy 64

Is it possible that yet another title from
this popular series has eluded fans for over a decade?

Spotlight: Bashi Bazook

We promise this is the last unreleased Jaleco game
we'll ever talk about. Maybe.